BLACK FOREST —The Black Forest fire burning north of Colorado Springs has now destroyed at least 360 homes and consumed 15,000 acres, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said at a news conference early Thursday. The list of homes that has been evaluated has been posted online and is updated whenever possible.

Its footprint is approaching 70 square miles.

The evacuation area includes 94,000 acres and 13,000 homes as of Thursday morning. Some 38,000 people have been evacuated.

"Those numbers are pretty staggering," Maketa said.

A view of the Black Forest Fire currently ravaging through parts of southern Colorado. (Photo by Jennifer Stickney, Colorado Springs. )

No injuries to residents or firefighters have been reported, although Maketa noted that there were reports of people who refused to evacuate. One person reported to be missing was found Thursday morning.

Fire officials are trying daily to get an accurate count on homes destroyed within the zone, but active fire and changing wind directions make the job fluid.

Maketa stressed that the evaluation of structures is ongoing. "Home assessments can change in 10 minutes," he said. "We are trying to keep it as accurate as possible.

"Homes we knew were standing (Wednesday), I personally witnessed going down last night," Maketa said.

The evacuation zone for the Black Forest fire was expanded early Thursday morning because of "dynamic changing conditions," the sheriff's office said.

Overnight, sheriff's deputies went door-to-door in the expanded evacuation area.

The zone now also includes Highway 83 east to Eastonville Road, and Walker Road north to South County Line Road, linking an Elbert County evacuation area to the original El Paso County evacuation area.

The evacuation area extends from Black Forest north into Elbert County. Some areas of Colorado Springs to the south are under a pre-evacuation notice.

Palmer Ridge High School has been designated an evacuation center; New Life Church, which was an evacuation center, is no longer being used because of heavy smoke. Large animals are being accepted at the El Paso County Fairgrounds, Elbert County Fairgrounds and Adams County Fairgrounds.

Maketa praised firefighters for their efforts battling the blaze the past three days, in extreme conditions and through heavily timbered areas.

"We did see a lot of losses, especially with the wind," Maketa said.

Firefighters have also saved countless homes, Maketa said, and they've kept the fire from moving north into Elbert County.

More scenes from the smoke engulfing the area near Colorado Springs as part of the Black Forest Fire. (Photo by Jennifer Stickney, Colorado Springs.)

Fire investigators have been back into the area where the fire first flared up, including Wednesday, looking for clues to the origin, but they were chased out when the blaze changed directions and swept back into the same area, Maketa said.

Fire officials believe the fire is not a threat to traffic on nearby Interstate 25, but that could change, depending on winds, smoke and possible massive evacuations.

"I'll cross my fingers and say I don't see that (I-25) as a concern at this time," Maketa said, noting that the highway was shut down during the Waldo Canyon fire.

Wednesday afternoon Gov. John Hickenlooper signed an executive order declaring a disaster emergency for the fire, "ordering $5.5 million from the Disaster Emergency Fund to pay for the fire suppression, response and recovery effort related to the fire since its inception," his office said in a news release.

The entire fire zone is within a red flag fire warning area posted Thursday by the National Weather Service.

The weather service warning, which starts at 11 a.m. and runs through 7 p.m., is prompted by gusty winds, low humidity, and dry fuels.

Winds this afternoon are expected to gust up to 35 mph and humidity levels will struggle to get out of single digits. Isolated thunderstorms with lightning are expected early Thursday afternoon, the weather service reports.

"Wind is our number one threat. It has been the game changer," Maketa said Thursday morning. Firefighters are bracing for the prospect of continuing winds over the next few days.

Also hampering efforts are the substantial amount of fuels on the forest floor.

A combination of matting pine needles, pine combs and grasses, known as "duff," acts like a blanket over pockets of fire, hiding the flames until a wind roars through, breathing new life into fire that had been hidden and smoldering.

Maketa said firefighters can look at an area and see nothing, and 10 minutes later it's alive with flames that emerge from the duff at the commands of the wind.

"There's a gust of wind and then raging flames," Maketa said. "We are see that all over."

Firefighters may have to deal with extreme fire behavior Thursday, the weather service warns.

The weather forecast Thursday for the Black Forest area includes a 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m., with a high temperature of 83 degrees.

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